HTC touts record Q3 sales, income

Demand for its Windows Mobile smart phones booming

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HTC, the Taiwanese handset manufacturer that has revolutionised the Windows Mobile-based smart-phone business, this week reported record third-quarter sales and income despite the quarter being traditionally a slow one.

For the three months to 30 September 2005, the company recorded revenues of TWD16.56bn ($492.71m), up 7.3 per cent on the previous quarter and 134 per cent on the year-ago quarter.

Net income for the period amounted to TWD2.78bn ($82.71m) before tax and TWD2.64bn ($78.55m) - up 251 per cent year on year - after the deduction is made. Pre- and post-tax earnings were TWD7.88 (24 cents) and TWD7.48 (22 cents), respectively.

For the first nine months of the year, HTC's business yielded a post-tax net income of TWD6.70bn ($199.35m) on sales of TWD45.24bn ($1.35bn). The figures were up respectively 105 and 175 per cent year on year. Earnings were TWD18.96 ($564.12m).

HTC provided no Q4 guidance beyond forecasting "stable growth momentum" through the quarter. The company is expected to launch further handsets, including Breeze, its first 3G candybar form-factor smart phone.

Q3 saw the launch of Universal, a 3G clamshell device with integrated keyboard, and Wizard, a keyboard-equipped 2.5G tablet form-factor phone. Both have been launched by a number of networks in Europe and around the world, including Vodafone, Orange, O2 and T-Mobile, and by unaffiliated vendors, like i-mate.

End-user demand is likely to ramp through Q4, as supply becomes less of a problem than it is right now. The Orange SPC M5000, for example, was launched in September, but has only now started to appear in some Orange stores, and in limited numbers by most accounts. The M5000 is based on HTC's Universal design, as is the O2 XDA Exec and T-Mobile's MDA IV. ®